Reality Check: 'Build the wall! Build the wall!'

Congress has given itself one week from today to agree to an immigration policy before another government shutdown.

To me the answer is simple: give President Trump his wall-- it will only cost the job of one lawyer.

Let me explain. The cost of the wall right now is estimated at $18 billion over 10 years. Yes, as a taxpayer you will be footing the bill.

But, in return for your investment, we’ll get a deal to protect nearly 2 million Dreamers, including those under the DACA program; all of them were brought to this country illegally but consider the U.S. home. They serve in our military and they pay taxes. Studies say illegal immigrants pay more than $11.5 billion a year in taxes-- enough to pay for the wall and then some.

More than 80 percent of Americans support a pathway to citizenship, and that’s according to a Fox News poll.

It’s what they want from immigration reform-- not a wall. In fact, a vast majority of Americans oppose a border wall, including two-thirds of those who live in Joe Arpaio country-- who know that without undocumented workers their economy would collapse.

But, if a wall is the only obstacle to real reform, so be it.

Let's hope that in return, we get immigration reform that doesn’t tear families apart, provides a path to citizenship, and offers the refuge this country has always provided to those fleeing persecution and war.

People like Ji Seoung-Ho, the former North Korean whom the president presented Tuesday night as a “testament to the yearning of every human soul to live in freedom”, without a hint of irony that Seoung-ho was restricted from entering the U.S. to pursue that freedom under the president’s travel ban, which was lifted, coincidentally, a day before the speech.

Which is why it’s time for reform. And all it will cost us is the job of one lawyer and a wall that will never be completed.

Here’s why: the price tag for the wall will double, and then triple.

There will be a labor dispute, and history tells us that Donald Trump will attempt to fire the contractors and then declare bankruptcy.

At which point, White House lawyers will draw straws to determine who gets to tell him that as President of the United States, he cannot do that.

And at which point President Trump will fire the lawyer.

John's opinions are his own and not necessarily those of Denali Media or its employees.